Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Deadline to submit papers is Sept. 16
City and school elections will be held on Nov. 2.
Residents wishing to earn a spot on their local school boards and city councils have until mid-September to get their name on the Nov. 2 general election ballot.
The filing period opened Aug. 23 and runs until Sept. 16 at 5 p.m. Residents can pick up nomination papers at their respective city hall, county auditor's office or by visiting the Iowa Secretary of State's website. Candidates must turn in all nomination materials to their city clerk or county auditor for council elections and board secretary for school board elections.
School and city elections are now held in conjunction with each other due to a change in state law. School board elections were previously held in September, while city elections were held in November. Local seats up for election this year are listed below.
Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn school board: Chad Lyman, Scott Vollink and Dave Vander Broek.
Clay Central/Everly school board: Allison Goyette, Steve Kracht and Denny Dalen.
Hartley City Council: Mayor Rodney Ahrenstorff and council members Ron Hengeveld, Brian Myers and Mary Westphalen.
Everly City Council: Mayor Brad Behrens and council members Tracey Grigg-Schuver, Cheri Hoye and Travis Tesch, who is filling the vacancy left by Josh Muckey.
Royal City Council: Mayor Josh Toft and council members Arlene Wimmer and Laef Lundbeck.
Interested residents must complete notarized affidavits of candidacy and nomination petitions before filing. Affidavits missing the following information will be rejected: Candidate's name, office sought, candidate's signature and signature of notary public. The candidate's party affiliation should be left blank, as city council and school board elections are non-partisan.
Candidates must gather a set number of signatures when completing their nomination petition. At least 25 signatures are needed for cities with a population greater than 3,500, at least 10 signatures are needed for cities with populations between 100 and 3,499, and at least 5 signatures are needed for cities with populations of 99 or less.
Candidates need 16 signatures to get on the CC/E school ballot, while H-M-S candidates need 32.
Eligible electors of the city or school district may sign nomination petitions. Candidates can sign their own petitions if they are eligible electors. Candidates may begin collecting signatures at any time; however, the signers must still be eligible electors when the papers are filed in order for the signatures to count.
All signers must include a signature and address of their residence on the petition. Providing a post office box only is not sufficient. There is no limit on the number of nomination petitions one elector may sign for different candidates.
Visit the Iowa Secretary of State's website for a complete list of candidacy rules.
